Bribes paid for Corsi to escape from Kenya

LONDON – Bribes totaling thousands of dollars were paid to facilitate WND senior staff reporter Jerome Corsi’s departure from Kenya after immigration authorities there detained him and his publicist – holding them under armed guard and without food – to prevent Corsi from holding a news conference revealing what he had discovered about Barack Obama’s controversial ties in the African nation.

Confirmation of the payments comes just as a report from Kenya Broadcasting Corp. admitted it was politics, not the contrived paperwork reason, for which Corsi was detained.

According to copies of e-mails obtained by WND, a resident of Kenya who provided funding for the payments said the bribes were paid to “various officials” during the day-long standoff between Corsi and Kenyan immigration authorities.

The e-mail addressed to Corsi said, “Sorry that your last day in the country was a little stressful. I trust you are both (Corsi and publicist Tim Bueler) safe and have all of your possessions with you.”

“We had worked diligently to get you both out safe and with all your stuff,” the informant said. “There was a great cost, however.”

The informant then cited fees used for “paying off” some of the officials involved in the case.

The informant listed the immediate expenditure of $2,500 in U.S. dollars and another $1,428 worth of Kenya shillings.

“I have given them all the money I had access to,” said the informant, who said the total, $3,928, took care “of a portion of what will be required.” He suggested there still could be future costs for “damage control.”

The e-mail also included a plea not to identify any individual either paying or taking the bribes, because of the potential for retaliation.

As WND has reported, Kenyan immigration officials and soldiers armed with automatic weapons prevented Corsi from holding a scheduled news conference about his investigation into Obama’s Kenyan links. The Kenyan authorities detaining him later took him to his departure flight and made it clear he was not welcome to return.

“Don’t ever come back. See you in hell,” Corsi reported an unidentified official told him as the author of the No. 1 best-selling book “The Obama Nation” was delivered to a flight departing from Nairobi.

Corsi took the British Airways flight to London, from where he told WND he was tired but safe and working on assembling the results of his investigation conducted in Kenya into a report.

The situation developed Tuesday just as Corsi, who had been in Kenya for several days, was preparing for a morning news conference to announce the results of his investigation, which also targeted Raila Odinga, a Kenyan political leader who has claimed he is Obama’s first cousin.

Corsi was approached by immigration officials and taken to their office under the guard of armed soldiers. Corsi made a quick contact with WND founder and editor Joseph Farah, but then Kenyan authorities confiscated his passport and cell phone and held him as if he were suspected of a crime.

Under guard and without food for most of the day, it wasn’t until many hours later when Corsi was taken to the airport for his scheduled flight and his cell phone was returned. He then was able to dispatch to WND a report on his captivity.

“We were detained and lied to all day,” Corsi described in his urgent report to WND. “The immigration officer at the hotel 15 minutes before the press conference this morning said we only needed to come to the immigration headquarters downtown for a few minutes and that we would be back to the hotel for the press conference with only a few minutes delay.”

“We got brought to immigration headquarters by what turned out to be about a dozen immigration officers plus military armed with automatic rifles,” he reported. “Tim got placed in the back of the vehicle and was surrounded by the armed military. I was in the front between the driver and the top immigration officer who first identified himself at the hotel.”

Kenyan authorities insisted the Americans were not under arrest, but two lawyers appeared although they had not been requested.

The immigration officials eventually insisted on taking Corsi to the airport and provided two different reasons for doing so: checking the status of the author’s airline tickets and to explain a mixup in paperwork.

But according to the KBC report, the government of Kenya was alleging it “deported” Corsi “back to America” because of “the nature of his mission.”

The report said the “initial explanation” cited paperwork, “but it emerged on Wednesday that his deportation squarely lay on his suspect intentions and mission in the country, the launch of an anti-Obama book.”

The report said Kenyans were demonstrating against the book, “leading to his detention by security.”

“We went to the airport via armed caravan,” Corsi said. Ultimately Corsi was told he and Bueler would be allowed on the London flight.

Corsi was pursuing his investigation in Kenya because Obama has a history of connections there, and the African nation is where his father worked as a well-known government economist. Corsi documented this history in his book but scheduled the trip to find answers to lingering questions – particularly about the links between the presidential candidate and Odinga, Kenya’s prime minister.

Corsi had promised a news conference that would “expose details of deep secret ties between U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and a section of Kenya government leaders, their connection to certain sectoral groups in Kenya and subsequent plot to be executed in Kenya should Senator Obama win the American presidency.”

Sen. Barack Obama with Raila Odinga

Corsi was set to show Obama and Odinga have been in direct contact since the senator’s visit to Kenya in 2006. He was to claim Obama advised Odinga on campaign strategy and helped him raise money in the U.S. for the Kenya presidential campaign.

Corsi was to report Odinga’s 2007 presidential campaign strategy called for exploiting anti-Kikuyu tribal sentiments, claiming victory and charging voter fraud even if the campaign knew the election had been legitimately lost. Odinga, Corsi said, also was willing to fan the flames of ethnic tribal tensions and use violence as a last resort by calling for mass action that led to the destruction of properties, injuries, loss of life and the displacement of over 500,000 Kenyans. The purpose was to compel the Electoral Commission of Kenya to declare him the winner or enable him to declare himself the winner by force.

Even though Odinga has not fulfilled his campaign promises to the Muslims who voted for him, he continues to cause concern among Kenyans because he has not declared his position on Shariah law, Corsi said.

Corsi said Obama remained in active phone contact with Odinga through the New Hampshire Democratic Party primary in January. The Illinois senator continued to support Odinga, he said, turning a blind eye to an agreement signed with Muslims and the post-election violence instigated as part of the campaign strategy.